ered prudent to close the little Roman Catholic oratory by placing a floor at the spring of the arches, thus ceiling the lower part, and making it into a sitting-room. The chapel above was not re-discovered for some generations.

One of the most interesting historical characters of Ipswich was Margaret Catchpole, an adventurous heroine of wild romance in a domestic setting, a combination of confidential maid, rough rider, and horse-thief thrown into one; -her story has been charmingly written by Rev. Richard Cobbold, and recently re-published at the Ancient House. This girl was a maid-servant living in the family of the author's mother, and was in all essentials of character a pretty good girl, and yet, so arbitrary is fate, she was condemned to be hung for horse-stealing; she actually stole a horse, and rode it from Ipswich to London in ten hours, dressed as a groom. But as one reads this affecting and "perfectly true story" one realizes that poor Margaret was more sinned against than sinning, for her worthless soldier lover was really responsible for her evil deed; she would never have stolen a horse for herself. Her greatest error was loving not wisely but too well, if one may be forgiven for using such a quotation in the twentieth century. It seems

to fit the case and the period. I advise all readers to get the history of Margaret Catchpole and follow her on her daring ride, which was such a feat for a girl as was Paul Revere's for a soldier, or that of John Gilpin for "a citizen of renown.” Margaret, from her earliest childhood, had always been a very fearless and skilful horsewoman, evidently intended for life on the Western plains in America. Her spirit was mislaid by some pre-natal oversight, and came to consciousness in a poor girl in a staid East Anglian village. What wonder that something had to break?

Mr. Cobbold says: "Gainsborough and Constable were lovers of the scenery around Ipswich, and many are the sketches in possession of their Suffolk friends which speak their admiration for the beautiful landscapes which surround the river Orwell. Had these artists seen Margaret in her equestrian character, they would have immortalized her; for nothing could have been more appropriate to the spirit of their works. Margaret was as fearless as a Newmarket jockey, and never was known to have had a single fall." He goes on to say that the circus riders of a celebrated troupe probably "could not have sat a Suffolk cart-horse with the same composure." Now and then at the

races, when a rider failed to reach the highest point of excellence, some of the lads were heard to exclaim, "Margaret would beat him hollow!" Rushing off for the doctor was a specialty of Margaret's, as may be well understood, and indeed her unusual skill only once led her astray, and then, if her sentence had not been commuted to banishment, it would have cost her her life.

Among the other publications is an interesting little history of the martyrdom of two women who were burned in the open square in Ipswich for their opinions. In the Cornhill there was originally a preaching cross, which stood until the sixteenth century, when a market cross was erected in its stead. This remained until 1812. On the nineteenth of February, 1556, two Protestant women were burned in Cornhill. A grim bit of early recording is the chamberlain's accounts of this disgraceful occasion: "Item: paid for a writ for the Exicusion of the two women who were burned, five shillings. Item, paid to four men for carrying wood and broome to the place of Exicusion, four-shillings and seven-pence. Item, for a stake at the said Exicusion, six shillings."

Another attractive book of local interest is a romance about the Ancient House itself, called